Linebacker Turns Kids’ Crochet Teacher

Mike Rivera is 6’2″ and exceeds 250 pounds. He racked up 300 tackles as a college football player before joining up with the Green Bay Packers and then the Miami Dolphins. In other words, he’s not the typical picture that you get in your mind when you think about someone who crochets. And yet he can crochet a cap in about an hour and is happy to teach young children how to do it as well!

Shawnee Dispatch reports that Rivera recently visited Hillcrest Elementary School in Kansas. He was there to teach students how to crochet in a voluntary class that was hosted after school by the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence. More than one dozen kids showed up for the class and learned how to crochet a hat. They weren’t told who Rivera was so they were purely interested in the crochet class. How exciting!

How exactly did a football player like Rivera come to learn how to crochet? He went down to Guatemala to do some volunteer work with kids and he learned both the craft and the art of teaching it while he was there. He says that crocheting is a good way to fill the time especially when it means that he can help children in need. He is returning to the class to continue his crochet volunteer work.

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